Hi Friends, I'm Rachna and I have another interesting lesson for you today. You know, I have a friend
of mine and she's pretty explosive like she's always very loud with the emotions
and when we tell her don't be explosive she kind of gets a little offended
because the word explosive has more of a negative connotation and that Ock's her
even more. So I decided to tell her that you're very dramatic. Dramatic? Yes a
better word than explosive. So this is what today's lesson is about, replacing
negative, okay. That means not so nice behavioral
vocabulary. So of course there are times you want to describe certain
characteristics of people and those characteristics may not be very positive
but it is important to you know to not use very negative vocabulary when you
describe their characteristics. So let's see what are certain words that we could
replace and make that particular characteristic sound better. So the first
one is 'short attention span'. Now what is short attention span? Someone who cannot
focus on one thing for a very long period of time. Now it could be you are
at a project at work and you know beyond half an hour or an hour you just lose
interest and you kind of you know you deviate you start looking into your
phone or you research or you play a game. So basically you have a short attention
span that means nothing captivates you for too long. Not a very positive word I
mean imagine if someone came and told me, "Rachna you have a very short attention
span" that means I'm not a very focused person. Well so you could replace it by
'many interests' now for example a teacher tells a parent that "your child has short
attention span," now that could be a little offensive what she could say is
"your child has many interests" that means he cannot stick to one thing for a very
long time. So yes, use 'many interests' instead of
'short attention span'. The next one says 'irresponsible' well this is one of the
most offensive adjectives you could use to describe someone. I wouldn't like to
be called 'irresponsible'. So if a manager has to tell his subordinate that you are
very 'irresponsible' that could create further animosity between the two. So
well, do not use irresponsible what you could
use is 'carefree'. Now, look how the whole meaning changes so the manager tells us
subordinate, "Richard, you are very carefree about your work." Still a little
better than irresponsible? I mean imagine you're very irresponsible
not nice. You're very carefree. Well a better word then irresponsible and it's
a nice way to give feedback when you want to tell someone that you are
irresponsible. Yes the next one is 'hyperactive'. Now hyperactive is a person
who is highly energetic he cannot sit in one place he needs to talk aloud he's
talk a lot he screams, he yells... So active beyond normal
you know tendency. Now hyperactive again is it has more of a negative connotation
because it shows that it is over and beyond a normal tendency. Okay, so if I have
to tell my little niece that, "you are very hyperactive, can't you just sit
quietly?" I don't think people around would like the idea. But if I tell her,
"Wow you are very energetic for your age" so obviously energetic means a person
who has high levels of energy and obviously that means he is hyperactive.
So if I tell my niece that you are very energetic instead of very hyperactive
maybe people will look at it more positively. Okay?
Now I'm sure at work you have certain colleagues who are very you know playful
and full of mischief and who play pranks all the time who just can't sit
still even for two minutes instead of calling them hyperactive what you could
say is you know this group of my colleagues is
very energetic. So remember friends always try to use
more positive adjectives even when you describe negative characteristics of
people. The next one says 'loud'. Well avoid using loud because loud means someone
who's very you know not only vocal but also very boisterous and likes her
presence or his presence to be felt. So imagine if you say "Oh God, you are too loud I can't
stand you." and that's rude and that's more of a negative meaning the nicer way
to say is you are very enthusiastic so enthusiastic again means that you're the
one who was initiative takes initiative you know for everything and who is also
very boisterous but again you don't use the word like boisterous and loud but
enthusiastic again means who's very participative in everything and a better
way to say loud because loud by enlarge has a negative connotation so if you
tell someone you're loud they could get pretty offended but if you say oh you're
pretty enthusiastic well it would be taken in a better way then louder okay
so the next one is stubborn a complete negative adjectives now stubborn you
know who's stubborn stubborn is a person who just doesn't want to listen or take
advice from others he has his own set thinking set of thoughts and probably
even fixed concepts and doesn't want to listen he doesn't want to budge I will
do what I want and I will do it my way and it has to happen my way
so there people who don't really like to adjust or are not flexible and you know
do not budge from the opinions so someone who is stubborn is definitely
someone who's very difficult to handle and deal with and well trust me
most people are stubborn I am but just a little bit not too much yes
so if you tell some you're stubborn and even if you say to a
child they could get pretty angry because stubborn is not a very positive
adjectives so instead of using stubborn all you could say is you are persistent
now imagine in you know you are at your feedback appraisals at work and your
manager tells you you know your work is good but you're very stubborn I mean you
would not take it too well but if he says your work is good overall
but you're a little persistent you know that would be a better feeling because
nobody likes to be called stubborn so when you want to tell someone or when
you want to talk about someone being stubborn the better word to use is
persistent that is the same thing they're headstrong and basically they
like that one way yes next is poor planning this planning is a very
important part especially when you work when you're working so you need to plan
your day it could be plan your week plan meetings or plan for targets for the
next three months and if you're someone who cannot forecast or cannot see things
clearly or have a fixed plan that you would like to go by that means you're a
poor planner and probably you just you know take it take things as they come
you know each day at a time so there are a lot of people who do not
get into planning so they are poor planner but if you tell someone and
especially if you tell someone at work or if you talk about your senior and say
you know he always gets things done last minute he's a poor planner mmm it's not
a very good thing to say and it's not a good way to describe your seniors at
work so what you could say is he is present focused now present focused
means he only lives you know like for the day by the day and doesn't think too
much into the future or doesn't plan too much about the future so present focused
means he is someone who focuses only in the present for today he lives in them
now yeah so he is right now your
today and he only has things in his basket for today he does not look into
the future so remember poor planner better what to users present focus okay
friends well the next one is disorganized I think most of us are
disorganized or somehow we just kind of happen to be disorganized none of us
like it but I think many of us fall into this category
disorganized is someone who doesn't you know who obviously was not organized it
could be his cupboard his his room his office desk his cabin anything or even
his own his own structure in the head you know you're not organized you're
disorganized again a very negative way to describe someone so if you say that
my friend is disorganized at work or my friends cupboard is completely
disorganized believe me it's not a very nice thing what you could say and a
better and a more professional and a positive word is unstructured okay so
for example if I'm at a meeting and if I tell you if I if I see that I am very
disorganized in my head with a lot of thoughts I mean obviously I'm not
speaking too well about myself but if I say I'm unstructured with my thoughts it
is better than you know using the word disorganized and that is how this
replaces disorganized in a better way anxious okay something that all of us
feel and we do feel anxious when we take big decisions in our life now and just
comes from anxiety yeah so it's a feeling of nervousness a little fear you
have butterflies in your stomach it could be before your examination results
it could be when you join a new job it could be during appraisals it could be
you've done something wrong at work and now you're heading to your boss's cabin
so you feel anxious now for example if I'm taking a dishes big decision
obviously I'm going to feel anxious so instead of saying I feel anxious I'll
say I'm cautious cautious means you do not rush into things and obviously an
anxious person will be cautious he will be careful
before he takes a step so remember avoid anxious use cautious okay and the last
word for today is disobedient complete no in your vocabulary list do not call
anyone disobedient now this obedient is someone who just doesn't listen and
doesn't take your advice and again does his own thing so if you tell him to do a
he will do exactly the opposite now kids can be disobedient employees can be
disobedient your friends can be disobedient you can be disobedient to
your doctor also and not take his advice so someone who just doesn't like to
listen okay again if someone tells me that I'm disobedient I'm not going to
take it in my stride so what he could say is you are self-directed now
obviously someone who is disobedient does not like to listen will do what he
wants that means he directs himself to do things his way so a better word to
use is self-directed so if you talk about your children being disobedient
all you could say is they are self-directed find something more
positive something better so we're friends these are the list of negative
words that could be replaced by positive ones I'm sure you could use this in your
daily conversation I'll be back soon with a new lesson till then take care
and bye